No-Cook Strawberry Freezer Jam Recipe • The Prairie Homestead (2024)

FAQs

Do you thaw frozen strawberries before making jam? ›

If you're mixing fresh and frozen fruit, the bulk of it should be frozen. “If I want whole bits of fruit in my jam, I cook down the frozen fruit first, bring it to a nice, bubbly heat – making sure it's not sticking on the bottom – add the sugar, which should dissolve quickly, and then the unfrozen fruit.”

I wonder how many jars of jam she made in her lifetime. Freezer jam generally has a looser consistency than jam made the traditional way. With freezer jam, the fruit is not cooked, giving it a brighter, fresh-from-summer color and flavor.

Yes! I have been making jam from many different varieties of frozen fruit and berries for years and not only does it work, but it's so much more convenient. Frozen fruits and berries are picked at their peak of freshness, which means they are ripe and full of flavor.

If you don't your jam may not set up properly. If you do encounter a situation where your jam doesn't set up and is too soft or runny, don't despair! A really easy fix is to just boil another package of pectin and add it to the jam! It will still taste great.

If your jam doesn't properly set, it's usually because the ratio of fruit to sugar was off, your pectin was old, or because your sugar didn't fully dissolve.

With only a few minutes prep time, you can make delicious jam made with frozen strawberries. Check the jam pectin envelope for more information on canning using frozen fruits.

You will need to purchase pectin which thickens the fruit to make the jam. There are two types—powdered and liquid. The two types are not interchangeable in a recipe. Always use a recipe developed for the type of pectin that you are using.

Add chia seeds to the recipe.

The chia seeds soak up the juice and moisture from fruit purée and plump up, giving a thickening effect to the jam without using heat or added sugar or pectin. Think of it as a chia seed pudding made with fruit rather than milk.

Strawberries have a high water content, so they're prone to turning soggy and waterlogged when they thaw. To minimize the formation of ice crystals (the real culprit of sogginess, they break down the berries' structure, so they become soft when defrosted), it's best to flash-freeze them.

Recommended Varieties

Allstar, Cabot, Chandler, Earliglow, and Jewel and are usually excellent-quality berries for freezing. Most other varieties are suitable, especially for making jams and eating fresh. Locally grown strawberries are best for making jams and freezing.

Is it better to freeze strawberries whole or sliced? ›

Whether you freeze the berries whole or slice them first is entirely up to you—they'll freeze well either way. Freezing the berries whole gives you more options for how to use the berries once they're thawed. You can choose to slice them, dice them or mash them depending on the recipe.

Almost all fruit contains some acid, but the natural amount of acid can differ between fruit types, and even from batch to batch of the same type of fruit. To ensure that my jam has a proper acid level to gel properly and limit bacteria growth, I always add lemon juice to a jam mixture.

Lemon is crucial to balancing those sweet flavors, but it also helps the pectin to firm up the jam. It can be added at the start of the cooking process or towards the end, but what must be taken into account is that adding liquids to the jam mixture will inevitably require the jam to cook for longer.

Pectin Substitute

Cornstarch - Another plant-based thickening agent, cornstarch is a great substitute for pectin. Gelatin - For non-vegan menu items, you can substitute gelatin for pectin, but it will yield a different consistency.

If cooking your berries into a pie filling, you may need to add additional thickening agents because frozen berries tend to release more liquid than fresh and will lead to a runnier consistency. For best results in your baking, don't defrost the berries before use but instead toss them in flour.

If there isn't enough pectin in the fruit itself and you don't add extra pectin, the result is runny jelly or jam. Additionally, if the fruit is overripe, its pectin levels are lower. Added pectin comes in a couple of forms. You can find powdered pectin and liquid pectin at grocery stores and online.

Foods that are thawed and canned must be fully thawed before canning to ensure that no cold spots exist, and the produce must be treated as fresh in terms of canning methods and full complete processing times; no shortcuts are allowed just because it “was frozen.” And for it to be canned, there must be a defined USDA / ...